The Anytimes and the Nevers

For anyone who cook, there are these ‘anytimes’ which you will not hesitate to put on the table.  Then again, there are these ‘nevers’ which you will not attempt in your wildest dream.

Apple pie was one of my nevers. Why?

Well, cos’ it’s too ang moh (westernized).
Er, cos’ I don’t have sweet tooth.
Even the better half didn’t think is our family thingy.

Until… “Mum, we had peach pie at school today and it was AWESOME!!’

So here I am … don’t we all slave around our children??

 

I used Ramsay’s sweet piecrust recipe but I think any basic recipe would work.  The critical step is to use cold butter, mix roughly and not blend, with flour. If you sieve the mixture (before adding liquid), you should be able to collect the butter bits. That’s how it should be; if you like crumbly crust, that is.

 

 

 

 

 

Do you pre-bake the crust?? Most recipes say no, few say yes. I didn’t do it this time but will try doing that next time since I want a saucier filling; crumbly crust baked with caramelized butter/sugar. Yumm… I can picture that anytime.  Oh, prick the crust before baking ya, cos I forgot and the base was puffing like a little bad wolf in the oven and I didn’t have my red hoodie on … darn …

Peach is not in season, so I used apples. I had an outrageously under filled pie, cos’ I was in this smart Alec halving mode. Anyway, I choose to learn and forget.  But the apples thought otherwise, they shrunk so very much in the skillet! A classic case of 屋漏偏逢连夜雨 (broken roof meets many rainy nights). I got myself a super-duper hallow apple pie.  Oh God, just let me die ...  

 

 

 

 

The apples were kinda over caramelized a little.  It was still yummy but bit dry for a pie, good for salad I guess.  So, I am telling you: maintain the sauce, transfer the apple AND the sauce into the pie crust. 

The ingredients for the fillings can range from twelve to three, from recipe to recipe.  I am an ex-perfectionist, that means just nice; no extra, no shortage but just nice.

Translation? – I didn’t have all the twelve ingredients in the kitchen without having to run to the supermart.
Conclusion? – Just nice always end up with shortage.  Make sense ?!
 

So, I picked this. I added a quarter stick of cinnamon and skipped the lemon juice; apple is citric enough for me.  I think 8 medium size apples will be a good stuffed pie don’t you think??

 

 

 

Compelling Powers

 

 

I am compelled by two powers to write this.

The power of convection oven has compelled me to bring her justice.  I shall not give names; these are what bakers said about convection oven, and there are tons more negative comments out there:

“Almost all of the cheesecakes that I baked in it (convection oven) were a flop.”

“The fan of convection ovens can be too strong for cake batters, and the disturbance could cause some cakes to fall. Less movement in the oven is better for fragile items like cakes.”

 

This is what she has asked me to convey:

“Your cheesecakes were a flop because your skill sucks.  For you who think that I am too strong, either you are so ignorant or you are so egoistic that you cannot accept anyone better!!??  I am just so glad I didn’t end up in your kitchen, but HKG’s.  It’s not like she didn’t have a choice you know.  You see, I am not alone; my partner, the convention oven, lives with us. Honestly, her skill sucks too when she started baking with convention oven, but at least she is not as ignorant and egoistic.  She found me and eventually convinced that I am the one.  I don’t burn your cake; you don’t have to tent it. On the contrary, I give you beautiful, even tan on your cakes. Plus, you can look straight into your cake every freaking second while baking. Have a look at the cheesecake HKG baked last week.  Get it? Get it?

 

 

What you need is skill and knowledge, which you obviously don’t have. With me, reduce temperature by 10 to 15C.  If you are using a dark baking pan, reduce by another 10C.”

The power of cheesecake has compelled me to air her grievances.

 “I prefer to be baked in a convection oven.  Firstly, convention oven gives me freckles. Would you like freckles on your face? Huh, huh??? Secondly, I don’t like to be tented, it’s already hot in the oven; tent?? Are you nuts?  Do you think I like cracks on my face? Are you out of your freaking mind? I love to go crack-less; it takes skills but it's possible.  More importantly, crack is not my fault!  Neither is the convection oven’s! She was merely doing what you told her to do.  You heated me too much too high.  Do I look like a balloon to you? Even balloon burst at some point of time. The crater around the cheesecake?  -  Not my fault! Again, a temperature issue. Come on, even Ramsay’s cheesecake has that! What’s so big deal?  Move on people !

I admit that I am not perfect;  I know that I am temperamental.  But hey, I am a very forgiving cake.  Ok? Are we cool here?  I may have freckles with scar face, but I still taste as good.  BUT, if you are just as shallow as I thought you were, top me with fresh berries.  Then go learn from the expert because there are tons of people who love me just as I am - without garnish.

The bottom line is; if you could just brush up your skills, that would save us all tons of pain and frustration, not to mention finger pointing.

One last thing, you forgive yourself every time you make a mistake; why can’t you be as forgiving as me to others?? After all, it’s your fault that your skill sucks! ”

 

 

French Toasts

Do you feel that Chinese New Year is approaching??

Yes, of course I know we have not past Christmas yet.

For me, it’s always Chinese New Year.  Frankly, I have not seen such anticipation in anyone else.

Every year, we go through this:

 

Me: Lailai, north wind's blowing, Chinese New Year coming's you know?

Mother-in-law (smiling): Goodness, how old are you??

*          *         *          *         *          *          *          *          *          *          *          *          *

 

Me:  Lao kong, north wind's blowing, Chinese New Year's coming you know?

 

Husband: HA HA HA ...(with that loving stare I don't get often after 15 years of marriage)

 

He is simply puzzled by that kind of anticipation and excitement ...

   

Oooh ... I love this.

 

I love it with ketchup.

 

My kids love it with maple syrup or honey.

Should be good with any kind of jam, right?

So easy, so fast, no exact measurement is needed.  

 

It's all agaration (estimation). I realized I am cooking with agaration more and more.   I used to complain about my dear mother-in-law not being precise … sign of aging??

 

Almost impossible to get this wrong.

 

If you did, er.... no comments.

Ingredients

6 slices of sandwich bread

2 eggs

40ml of milk, I don’t measure, I aga-aga (estimate)
Pepper to taste
Soy sauce to taste, I use about half teaspoon
Cooking oil or butter

Directions

 

1.       Mix all ingredients except bread together in a wide shallow bowl, and stir to incorporate well.

2.       Heat a flat pan, low to medium heat, and oil pan with cooking oil or butter.

3.       Soak bread in egg mixture, both sides, till bread is coated with egg.

4.       Pan fried under low/medium heat, 1 to 2 minutes on each side.

5.       Remove from pan onto a plate.

6.       Drizzle with choice of dressing or simply eat it on its own.

 

 
This is a good way to handle not-so-soft bread, or the head and tail slices of a loaf. I make scramble egg with the left over egg mixture.

Pan Fried Salmon Fillet

It's unbelievable; it’s September already…

I have given up trying to align my sense of time and the actual time.

Have you heard of this Chinese saying: 人生苦短? Meaning life is bitterly short.

Thank god, it’s bitterly short!! Can you imagine if it is bitterly looonnnngggggg …..???

So count your blessings.

I am counting my blessings, hopefully often enough.

Ironically, I don’t give shit (sorry, I did not forget this is a food blog) to many things now.

I won’t waste my stomach on bad food.
I won’t waste my patience to make a point to the impossible (people).

I waste the food, not my health.
I am a lesser perfectionist.

I am learning to buy time, literately.

So many things, so little time …

This is a quick hunger fix, yet so very yummy.

It is so simply, I could give you the recipe in two lines.

Give a few cuts on the salmon fillet (skin side). Rub with olive oil and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Pan fried, about 4 minutes, on each side. Serve with Pretty Salad.

See, in less then 2 lines.
Man, I am good.

If you are a visual person like me, go to youtube and watch the video from the fowl-mouthed Gordon Ramsay.
Don't get me wrong; I like him, a lot in fact.
I like his impatience for the impossible (people), on top of many other qualities.  

P/S: something is not right with this dashboard, mouse is not working, attach link not is working as well. It's exhausting my patience. 

Barbeque Chicken Wings






                                                                                          Hakka Kampung Girl

  

Tell me, who does not like barbeque wings?

I have been making this for a long, long time; adjusting and tuning the recipe.  In all occasions, it has never failed me.



What

1 kg chicken wings

2 tablespoon BBQ Sprinkler (I use Cape Herb and Spice Company)

1 tablespoon chopped garlic

1 teaspoon of dark soya sauce (for color)

Marinade

5 tablespoon barbeque source

2 teaspoon honey mustard source

2 teaspoon honey

How

1.  Wash chicken wings and drain off excess water. Pierce chicken wings with a fork.

2.  Add BBQ marinade salt and garlic. Set aside for 1 hour; I usually leave the wings in the fridge overnight.

3.  Mix all ingredients for marinade and set aside.

4.  Place chicken wings on a grease a baking pan line with aluminum foil and bake at 200C for 20mins.

5.  Remove wings from oven and brush marinade on chicken wings.

6.  Return tray to oven and bake till sauce thicken, about 5 minutes.

7.  Remove from oven and enjoy.

I Am Turely Sorry ...

Dear Girl,

I know I should be ashamed of myself … I admit, wholeheartedly, that I am guilty.

I know I haven’t been  giving you the slightest attention for the past months … 13 months , to be exact. I know this is not going to make you feel any better, but I want you to know:  I do think of you every now and then … The fact is: I do miss you.

No, there is no one else; you are my only blog.  It's just that … there are so many more than just blogging, and … and so much have happened. 

Please … don’t get me wrong; I am not saying I shouldn’t have brought you into this cyber world; I do love you.   I thought you knew from the very beginning … that I do love Gardening, Reading, Criminal Dramas, and not least  Laze Around.   That was exactly the reason why it took me so long to start this relationship!

And stop being ridiculous, of course you are not the back-up.  Yes, I spend a lot of time with Gardening.  It’s not for me, it’s for the family.  Didn’t you see the quality time we had over dinner in the backyard?  How many family have one hour dinner (almost) everyday; talk and laugh like mad?  I mean like MAD!

Yes, you are right.   I should have known you needed my attention too and that I should have known the responsibility and effort and time and the commitment and what not to make this relationship work. 

I know I sound like a jerk … but you are just too demanding, or perhaps I was too demanding…??  I wanted you to look good, I wanted you to sound good .   I wanted you to be perfect.  And I still want those… You see what I mean??

And please, to make life easier for us both, don’t ever compare me with other bloggers!  I am who I am; you need to accept that. You need to forgive and forget … forget that you are still ‘classified’.  It’s not that I would be embarrassed  by you or anything; I am just …. not a public person.  Ok, I am afraid of being judge through you, especially by people I know!  You can understand that, right?

Having said all that; I promise that I will spend more time with you.  By the way, how do you like your page dressing, do you want to change it?  Pink wallpaper?  What about lime green?  I totally respect your decision; you just have to tell me.

Sincerely,

 CC

P/S: I have tried few new recipes, tweaked some old ones, and I have revamped  Gardening.  Can’t wait to show you.

Pretty Salad

Bloggers out there in my “Favorites” folder are still blogging … and myself …

So many things … so little time … 

Of all that had happened and had not happened … I am convinced that I do have a guarding angel. 

So, thank you thank you and thank you …

Fifteen days of Chinese New Year is officially over.

Yes, there was a lot of cooking and baking … nothing new, pretty much the usual staff. I was too busy to snap some pictures so that you could drool over it.

This healthy salad is made up of left-overs from Chinese New Year.  Even my vege-phobia kids love it. My son dumped his full bowl of rice dinner into the salad and ‘rojak’ them down …

Left-overs:

                Strawberry

                Japanese cucumber

                Basil leaves

                Tomato

               

Directions:

1.       Wash left-overs.

2.       Cut left-overs.

3.       Throw left-overs in salad bowl.

4.       Add Japanese salad dressing.

Saba Fish in Teriyaki Sauce

I have been baking and cooking, just not posting. 

Something happened at work and I was completely, utterly pissed that I was not mentally cool enough to write.  I would probably end up bitching and bitching, more bitching.

Life is unfair, so live with it ... 

A colleague said: "It's just not your time yet."  - Maybe, but it just seems too much to swallow at this point of time ...

Eversince my kids tasted the ready made Saba fish at grandma’s house, they are hooked.  Being me, who don’t like ready made food, prefer to do it myself.  Yes, you are right; I don’t trust those guys out there to prepare my meals. 

Frozen Saba fish fillets are easily available in local supermarket, or you can replace it with salmon fish. This dish is super, super easy yet super, super tasty.

Ingredients:

2 Saba fish fillets

2 teaspoons of oil

1 ½ tablespoon teriyaki sauce to marinate fish

1 tablespoon teriyaki sauce

1 tablespoon water

Directions:

1. Clean fish fillets and drip dry as much as possible.
2. Add oil to coat the fish.
3. Add 1 ½ tablespoon teriyaki sauce to the fillets, ensure all surfaces are coated. Marinate for 30 minutes.
4. Preheat oven to 200C.
5. Lightly oil a baking tray, place fillets in it and bake for 10 – 12 minutes.
6. In a small bowl, add 1 table spoon teriyaki sauce and 1 table spoon of water; mix well.
7. When the fish is cooked, add in teriyaki sauce and water mixtue into baking tray.  Continue to bake till sauce boiled, about 1 - 2 minutes, or till you are happy with the consistency. Just don't over-cook the fish or worse, burn it.
8. Remove from oven, serve hot.

Alernatively, you can also cook the fish with a stove.  I have tried both; this time I used my precious cast iron grill pan.  It gave that very nice chared lines.  Other than that, oven bake is so much easier. 

A few notes if you chose to cook on your stove top.

1. Put in the fish when the pan and oil are hot.

2. Cook the fillets skin side facing up first, to retain mositure. 

3.  Leave the fillets alone till the surfaces are sealed.  If not you will end up with broken pieces.

So, oven or stove ??

Since I have been there and done both, I would say oven.  Definitely oven.

Lasagna

I will not use oven ready pasta sheet again.  The first time I used them, all layers were uncooked.  I gathered it was due to the moisture level; not wet enough to soften the pasta sheets.  This round, I prepared a real running meat sauce and added bechamel sauce.  The bottom layers were a little wet but acceptable, but the top layer warped like bad quality wooden flooring!

I had to remove the tray half way through and cut those top sheets into small pieces so that they stayed down.  I also had to sprinkle water on them.  You see, the bottom layers were slightly wetter than they should be, and the top layer needed more water in order to cook.  Does that gel with you??

If you know the reason where I have done wrong, don’t bother to tell me 'cos I have decided not to use oven ready sheets again.  Ha ha ha … I am just kidding; please tell me.  Maybe, just maybe, I am willing to give it another shot for the convenience.

If you like to give it a try, I think the top layer needs to be weighted down with more meat sauce and cheese and finish with cream sauce.  Hmm .... maybe I should give it one last try ...

Someone mentioned in his blog that he used normal lasagna sheets instead of the oven ready sheets.   “It’s a personal choice,” he said.  - Ya, right! 

My point is: there must be some reasons to his “personal choice”, he is just not telling us!!! Now I know why and I will not read his blog again.  In the very first place, all choices are “personal”, you mean what, I decided for him that he should not use the oven ready pasta sheets??

Yes, I am petty.

Yes, I am mean.

Yes, I am mad, 'cos I don’t see why I have to re-invent the wheel.

No, you cannot blame me for all that I have said cos’ it’s my “personal choice” to be who I am!!!!!!!!!

Hwee …. Ok, am good …

So, … I used the tomato sauce from my pizza recipe, and added minced beef.  I have also added an extra layer of spinach in the middle of the lasagna.  As for the bechamel souce, there are plenty of recipes you can find when you google.  I found this video on utube,  a pretty good one.

Other than the barely cooked top pasta sheet, the dish was well received by all at home, that we drank wine with it; of course not the kids. 

My son had a big portion, and he has a way of eating them - layer by layer ...

TGIF

Friday is unlike any other working day …

I would leave work one hour earlier, no detour, no errand and hopefully I can be home by six.  That will be a treat; then I will have few good hours to bake.

But we all know, having the time is not quite it.  The mood has to settle in; not just any mood but THE mood.  I came home last night with a dying mood to bake; BUT, *bake what*??

Bagel – not so popular in the house.

Doughnut – too oily.

Egg tart – too often.

Bread – didn’t feel like it.

Choc chips cookie – oh that … my quest, ah … I am not ready …

Cake – *can la*, but I didn’t have enough cake flour!

It’s not so easy to be Julie (in the movie Julie and Julia) huh … to try every dish in a book.

You need to have a lot, I mean A LOT, of faith in the author.
Let me ask you, statistically, out of ten recipes in a cookbook, how many will you try?
For me, zero happens all the time, two happens once in a blue moon and three has never happened.  I have a few cookbooks from Jamie Oliver. My husband bought them for me; I said I like his cooking a lot.  The truth is: I was more fascinated with the chef then the recipes.

So Friday evening, I ended up surfing the TV and internet, watching time flew by but no baking. I felt like I have wasted a good evening; if I did that often enough I would definitely feel I have wasted a good portion of my life!

Saturday morning … still trying to quench my baking itch.

“What about mochi?” I asked my husband.

“Em… the one you made was kind of chewy.”

“Really, like those at the Japanese restaurant?”

“No, not really; yours tasted nothing like that.”

“They looked the same to me,” I protested.

“Well, have you ever tried any one of them?”

Woh, I didn’t see that one coming; the answer is “no”, but I think I should just shut up.

** Singlish - Singapore English

Time Sense

Thank you for spending your preciously time reading my blog; there are so many out there and so little time, yet you have picked mine…. THANK YOU.

Time flies … we hear that so, so very often.  I am quite sure it feels differently to every one of us. 

I remember asking my mother (under a flowering durian tree) when I was a kid: “Ma, how long more to Chinese New Year?” 

“Not so soon, it wasn’t too long after the last one.” she laughed and said.

 –   This is normal for a kid.  I was told that a year would feel like three to a child.

When I was a teenager, I couldn’t wait till Chinese New Year.

–    I had a better sense of time.

When I was in my twenties, I would go shopping to make sure I had a new dress, preferably red; it was a must.

–    I started to have some control over time, making preparation.

When I was in my thirties, I panic: “What? Chinese New Year? Again?”

–    Ha, this is bad; sign of time lag.

My sense of time has never been so retarded.  I was very in tune, weren’t we all? 

Monday was indeed Monday, no gap.  Slowly, Wednesday felt like a Tuesday. 

Then escalated to: “Thursday is today? What happened to my Wednesday?”

That is the not the worst. 

“How’s parenthood so far? Time flies, your twin are two, three months old?” I asked my colleague.

“Oh, they are well, and they are almost 5 months old now,” he replied.

It’s mid September, and I feel like June … Is this going to get worse??

I go to this food court for breakfast every morning on my way to work.  Two days ago, out of the blue, the stall uncle shook his head and said to me :   “跟时间赛跑!”   (Racing with time!)

We race hard, day in and day out, yet we don't keep track of our opponent.

A day is a day, but which day exactly?

As I grow older, I feel that my left brain and my right brain don’t talk at all, or it's just my memory going nuts?

I was rushing through the super market; then I saw it.  That familiar clear bottle with green tip.  I grabbed one without checking the price; that was very unusual of me.   I came home, happily told my husband. 

“Remember this?  My favorite Vietnamese chilly sauce in USA, I have finally found it here!” I said.

“But this is not THE one,” he said calmly.

“What do you mean not the one?"  I yelled,  "See that dragon on the bottle?”  I was so very sure it was a dragon.

“It was a rooster, mummy,”  he said.  And yes, my husband has replaced ‘Dear’ and ‘Darling’ with ‘Mummy’. 
 “…….”  I was thinking very hard now, “… how could I possibly be wrong …”

“And the logo and all were printed onto the clear bottle, not that red sticker,” he added.

“Oh goodness, you are absolutely right!!”  I said and started laughing out real loud.

Glad I could still laugh …

p/s: Other than the darker red, the chilly sauce tastes different, a little bit more vinegarish but I like it ... in case you are wondering ...

Orange Sugar Buns

My dear brother got married, finally.  He is a good man; she is a fine lady.  I am so very happy for the family.  Since it was the last wedding of my siblings, I had my first ‘cure’; pedicure and manicure. Yes, I didn’t even have them on my own wedding day.  Didn’t know that it was so popular, and expensive.  I was being turned away by three saloons until one finally willing to squeeze me in.

My job didn’t allow me to wear nail polish until recent years; it would have been washed down easily by all the chemical solvents I dealt with. Now that I bake so often, nail polish and I are just not meant to be together. Can you imagine bits of nail polish in the bread?  My son told me there are thousands of animal parts in our food, such as flour!!  Ok, I think I shall not gross you any further.

So, I had my nail polish removed and started squeezing some orange juice. I really want to find out how good is the cream cheese bread recipe as a basic dough.  I replaced the water with orange juice and added one orange zest.  Lastly, sprinkled with sugar before baking.

I simply love the orange aroma in the dough …

I was feeling kind of lazy, so I used my mixer to do the messy job for 15 mins and continued with hand kneading.  I have arrived at my best thin film stage so far, must show off right??  Having said that, I have seen many much better ones. Next time ya ...

It was a raining day, not a good weather for bread making.  But hey, ‘who scare who’? I have my dish drainer, remember?

I am always apprehensive when it comes to shaping the dough, be it as loaf or bun.  I am like: "Now what?"  I am afraid if I don't do this one well, all the effort will be wasted.

The bread turned out very light, cottony and fluffy.  

Since the dough works well with sweet bread, I am sure the same for savory bread. – Daaa …..

I am a happy woman …

一大堆蠢蛋 Bunch of idiots

我是说公司里的那一堆！！

蠢蛋A – 不关我的事！！

就连自己份内的事也不做，搞到周边的人最后一分钟手忙脚乱。
最让人气愤的是：到头来还是白忙一场，无法完成使命- 因为他们那又来了一块没做好！！！

效率就从此一去不返；再也没有人会为任何事情紧张！

蠢蛋B – 都关我的事！！

这一堆假厉害又自以为是的蠢蛋什么都要管，就连不是他们份内的事也要做!!

就是这种人养成了蠢蛋A 那种要不得的行为！！
凡事都得照他们的方式来做，其他人不用问，也不用知道，听指示照做就是了！

当下属的就惨了，蠢蛋A 没把工作做好也变成是你的错！

不是份内的工作蠢蛋上司也拿过来， 最让人受不了的是：自己不做却分配给下属！

搞到整个部门怨声栽道，纷纷逃离。。

超级大蠢蛋C – 当不成蠢蛋A 又做不了蠢蛋B

每一回还是照样积极的为蠢蛋A 清理手尾。

每一回还是照样积极的替蠢蛋B 做好不是自己份内的事。

人蠢是没有药医的。。。



~     ~     ~     ~     ~     ~     ~     ~    ~     ~     ~     ~    ~     ~     ~     ~    ~     ~     ~     ~    ~     ~     ~    

I mean that big bunch of idiots at work.

Idiot A – non of my business

Nothing seems to be of his business, not even those within his job descriptions.

Panic colleagues will have to scramble last minute to do his job for him.  What is most frustrating is：all effort will go in vain cos’ there will always be another problem after this.

So, kiss productivity goodbye; nobody will bother anymore, about anything   …

Idiot B – all of my business

Everything must be his business.  He will meddle with everybody’s job, so full of himself; nobody knows any job better than him.  Don’t ask, you don’t need to know; just do it!

Pity those subordinates, don’t you?

Even when the problem is cause by Idiot A, it is still the subordinates’ fault.

Idiot boss will volunteer to take on any task from management, but he won’t do it himself; he will assign to the subordinates!  So everyone in the department complains and complains, determined to find greener patch of grass elsewhere.

Super Idiot C – Neither Idiot A nor Idiot B

Diligently cleaning behind Idiot A’s back, every time.

Diligently completing every task assigned by Idiot boss, every time.

There is absolutely no cure for idiots, you know …